When the Quakers traveled to Dartmouth and Harvard earlier this season, they held second-half leads before losing in two encouraging performances.
This time, there was no silver lining. Penn suffered ugly 62-47 and 76-54 losses to the Big Green and Crimson, respectively.
The defeats left Penn (4-20, 1-8 Ivy) a half-game out of the Ivy League cellar, while Dartmouth (9-14, 6-3 Ivy) and Harvard (15-9, 8-2) keep their Ivy League title chances alive.
Quakers coach Pat Knapp was visibly frustrated and "extremely disappointed" by his team's performance. He said the biggest difference between their first and second meetings was poor shooting.
The Big Green used a stifling zone defense to limit the Red and Blue to outside shots. Penn was 7-16 from three-point range, but only got to the line four times and scored just 10 points in the paint.
"I don't think we got enough good looks at the hoop," said sophomore point guard Sarah Bucar, who notched all but one of Penn's meager eight assists against Dartmouth. "We were moving the ball a lot of east and west instead of going at them."
Knapp added that beating the zone is not as simple as driving to the basket.
"Tell those Einsteins out there that say 'just drive the ball' that you can't penetrate if a team is just packing it in on you," Knapp said. "We really did not recognize the zone, spread out, and move the ball well enough."
After trailing by as many as 20 points early in the second half, Penn used a stretch of defensive stops and several three-pointers to cut the lead to 10. But Dartmouth adjusted by switching more on screens and defending Penn's hot shooters with taller players.
"Every team makes a run at you. It doesn't flow one way," Dartmouth coach Chris Wielgus said. "The thing about [the Quakers] is they never give up. They're going to play until the last seconds."
Against Harvard, Penn was unable to find an answer to junior forward Katie Rollins and senior guard Lindsay Hallion, who scored a combined 39 points.
The Quakers stayed in the game early and trailed by only six at halftime, but the Crimson pulled away soon after the break.
"The physicality of the game changed [in the second half], and we didn't match it," Knapp said.
Freshman Kim Adams was once again one of the lone bright spots for Penn. Adams scored 25 points on the weekend - one behind Carrie Biemer's team-best 26 - and came off the bench to play a season-high 34 minutes against Harvard.
"We'd like Kim to be more aware defensively, but she plays hard and she is a very good scorer," Knapp said. "So at this point that obviously helps us."
Penn's players were not made unavailable for comment after the Harvard game.
As the losses mount, Knapp has gone deeper into his bench to give players more experience heading into next season. Thirteen different players saw minutes in both games this weekend.
"When we start playing our young players, as hard as they work, and there are people on that floor who have missed two and a half months or more this season . we're going to have to work through that."
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